POLS MA student Canan Bolel's conference participation

Political Science MA student Canan Bolel has attended ‘Eighth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences’ organized by the Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences in Prague on 30 July – 1 August, 2013

Canan Bolel presented a paper entitled “Narratives of Childhood in Omer Seyfettin’s Literature: Concept of Death within the Imaginations of Child Heroes as the Cornerstone of National Identity Formation” at the conference.

How is the fear of death, or lack thereof, instrumentalized in the nation building narratives through children agencies? As nations are constructed by discourses, literature always has been a prominent tool for this specific purpose, especially during the periods of national identity formation. This study will investigate narratives of childhood in the short stories of the early 19th century Turkish nationalist author Omer Seyfettin (1884-1920). Seyfettin’s particular literary discourse is assembled in line with the needs of a definite audience under a specific literary propaganda campaign will give insights regarding the discourse of nascent Turkish nationalism. Fictional counterparts of the child heroes and narratives of their childhood experiences within these stories are envisioned by mythical reputations and heroic instants. Particular discourses embedded in this nationalist author’s writings devise the promise of childhood narratives to be explored beyond their chief motives. A concrete analysis of the inner workings of the characters’ minds will provide certain insights for the national identity formation processes and the rationale beneath, within the given period. Results of these Seyfettin’s stories which are fueled by intense historical as well as political allegories and metaphors will unfold a miscellaneous form of revelation of Turkish nationalism.